I want to buy a diamond online. If I request a diamond appraisal, can I view the diamond before I pay for it?

In some cases the jewelry company from which you purchase the diamond would agree to send the diamond to a well recognized appraiser in you local area. If you decide to purchase the diamond you will have to pay the appraisal fees, if you decide not to purchase the diamond, you will have to pay for the shipment fees. Usually there's no other way to view the diamond before purchasing it online.

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Like you, I was also very anxious about my online diamond ring purchase and felt a strong need to see what I was getting before buying it. So before placing my order with the online jewelry company, I contacted their customer service representative and I explained my worries to them. They were extremely considerate and provided me with some excellent photographs of the diamond ring I was interested in purchasing. However, this was still not enough for me, and they ended up sending me a short video clip of the diamond, and that way I was really able to see exactly how the diamond glistened and sparkled under the lighting. I suggest you do exactly the same: contact your online jewelry company's representatives and ask them if it's possible to send you a video clip of your diamond. It put my heart at ease when I saw just what kind of diamond I was getting, and I'm sure it will be the same for you as well.

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I recommend you do something different and don't involve the online jewelry company in your diamond appraisal at all, instead have your diamonds appraised privately. First, make sure that the online company you're about to purchase your diamond jewelry from has a 30 day free of charge return policy. Most online jewelry companies have this sort of policy, but still it is better that you are absolutely certain about this before continuing with your purchase. When you place your order, I would suggest you ask for express shipping and that way your diamond jewelry purchase will arrive to you within a couple of days, maybe even overnight. Once it has arrived, immediately take it to be privately appraised. Some diamond appraisal offices could even examine your jewelry straight away, depending on how busy they are, but either way it shouldn't take too long to thoroughly examine your diamond ring. You should then look carefully at the diamond appraisal results and decide whether you are happy with the diamond ring specifications and appraised value. Most probably, this will indeed be the case, because online diamond shopping is actually safer than we initially expect. However, if you are not pleased with the diamond after having it formally appraised, you could always send it back to your online jewelry provider. Seeing as the shipment and diamond appraisal were done very quickly, you still have sufficient time until your 30 day return policy expires and you should definitely have enough time to finalize your return by the end of this period.

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